Tamil Nadu: Livelihoods hit in western dists as tourism sector faces monsoon fury

CHENNAI: The continuous unseasonal summer rains have disrupted the tourism industry along the Western Ghats and surrounding regions. Tourist spots across districts in the western region remained shut, affecting the livelihood of people dependent on this sector, the tourism department officials said.

The Nilgiris, one of the most preferred destinations, continues to be pounded by heavy rains for almost a week. Adding to the woes, the Met department has given a red alert till this Saturday. The tourism officials also said that several areas across the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, including Kanniyakumari, Thoothukudi, and Dindigul also received heavy rains forcing the tourists to suspend all their plans.

“It is still raining heavily. We have closed all the tourist destinations at Udhagamandalam. Though we had opened the rose garden on Wednesday, only a few tourists visited,” Durga Devi, tourism officer in charge of the Nilgiris district told DT Next.

Another senior official from the tourism headquarters in Chennai, who is monitoring the current climatic conditions, said tourists were not allowed to take baths in Kutralam waterfalls at Tenkasi due to heavy floods for the past three days. “Since the hilly area is slippery, we have advised the tourists not to visit till the rough weather continues,” he added. He said the loss incurred due to heavy rains will be assessed only after the rains recede.

For the past two days, the tourists were not allowed to take baths at the Suruli waterfalls in Theni. Likewise, the ferry services in the Kanniyakumari tourist destination were also suspended, he said, adding the services will be resumed according to the climatic conditions in the sea.

The hotels and tourist agents in the rain-affected regions have been witnessing a large number of cancellations in the past few days. H Aayush, a Chennai-based tourist operator said, “In the last two days, over 90 per cent of tourists not only from Tamil Nadu but also from other states, who planned trips to Ooty, Coimbatore, Tenkasi, Kanniyakumari, Madurai and other southern tourist destinations have cancelled their plans. This applies to all the local tourist operators in the State, he said adding we hope everything will be normal in the first week of June.

“Every year during May, almost 100 per cent of rooms in the standard hotels get booked. However, at present, only between 10 per cent and 20 per cent occupancy rate is recorded per day, especially in the rain-hit tourist destinations,” said B Prakash, a member of TN Hotel Welfare Association. “Medium and small hotel owners have been largely affected as they have to make electricity payments and provide salaries to the employees,” he said.